J
Jalili
Guest
bustaheims said:
Yeah Luke Schenn is a good comparison. Jared Cowen's another one too, who hasn't really lived up to his name in Ottawa.
Gudbranson would be a good fit here, just not at what he would cost.
Unofficial 2013-2014 Armchair GM Thread
- Thread starter Champ Kind
- Start date
Yeah Luke Schenn is a good comparison. Jared Cowen's another one too, who hasn't really lived up to his name in Ottawa.
Gudbranson would be a good fit here, just not at what he would cost.
Britishbulldog
Active member
bustaheims said:
You're the man. I have actually been tip toeing a bit here trying to not get too nuts on everyone.
I actually wanted to keep Gardiner until the end of the season and try to trade Finn and Connor Brown for Gudbranson and add a tough young dman from the Marlies like MacWilliam or Granberg ONLY if it was needed.
Like you suggested, I too was hoping the Leafs could trade Gardiner in a package for a top pairing dman. Yes, I am still harping on getting Shea Weber since he is the best option with his RH shot and bizarre contract that is crippling to a lower revenue franchise with front loaded money.
[Personal note]: people can't tell me not to go for the best even if it is unrealistic....that's how I got my wife. I felt she was the best in the high school I got transferred to of over 900 and my buddies said I was nuts since she was older and was returning back to high school after a year at university to upgrade her sciences to enter nursing. Oh and she had a university boyfriend older than she was that was going to propose to her that Christmas and was bigger than me and could have broken every bone in my body if he got a hold of me. That was over 28 years ago and after a little over 25 years marriage she still loves me so.... I still go for the best and only the best. [/personal note]
...I would try to get you to close your eyes and picture this scene but then you wouldn't be able to read what I typed....so I guess you should just keep reading and not close your eyes....
With the limited finances in Nashville, I am still fantasizing that just as David Poile in June is looking at that un-signed $13,000,000 signing bonus cheque sitting on his desk with Shea Weber's name on it for July 1st and knowing that because of the Flyers' Paul Holgrem that he is going to have to write another HUGE $13,000,000 cheque July 1st the following summer and then 2 $8,000,000 contracts the July 1st 2 summers following that, just at that moment of utter despair in David's office the Leafs flex their financial muscle and trade TML's 2014 1st pick, Gardiner (or Gunnarsson), any current top 9 forward, a top forward prospect and a top defense prospect for Shea Weber.
Next year for a cool $26 MIL the Leafs would have:
Rielly 0.9 / Weber 7.79
Phaneuf 7.0 / Gudbranson 2.8
Gunnarson 3.15 / Franson 4.25
That would be a solid defense corp for another 8 years. That is the fantasy.
It would also leave $41 MIL for the forwards and $6 MIL for the goalies.
What realistically could be done and properly address the weaknesses on the current defense? I don't know. I will you guys suggest stuff.
Highlander
Active member
Sunday morning and Nonis working the phones for a Centre, who is he going to get and what price are we going to have to pay? Funny but we just got Holland and we are not giving the kid the proper role, I would like to see him on the first line for a few games or at least between Raymond and Clarkson.
Highlander
Active member
Hey, BBB, have you ever scoped out Yandle with the Yotes. I am in AZ for the winter and have attended quite a few games here. Yandle is a great D-Man as is Larson. If there was someway to pry either of those guys loose. Maybe we could trade Liles, Fraser, Mclaren and Orr and a first round pick for one of them?LOL
Britishbulldog
Active member
Highlander said:
Yandle played his junior here in Moncton and was able to see him play quite a bit then as well as Andrew MacDonald of the Islanders and the late Luc Bourdon and Yandle was a smooth, level headed player with a high hockey IQ. I have only been able to catch a few Phoenix games but he seems to now be playing in the NHL at the caliber he showed in junior.
Because of my fondness of him as a Monctonian I was thinking it would be good to get him here but with the skillset I see in Rielly, I almost think Yandle might not be needed as bad. Both Yandle and Rielly are 6'1" but Rielly is 15 lbs heavier.
I think you just want to get rid of Mark Fraser on me.... and some of those other guys you mentioned who I can't remember.
Highlander
Active member
Yep I am not a fan of Frazer or a few others. For me if you have skill sets that are in the Marlies or on your team you should be playing them. Is Devine or Broll better than McLaren, maybe not in the long run, but they are young and would play their guts out. Orr is out so no worries with him but to play an obviously talented lad in Holland on the fourth where Mclennan should be is out of touch with reality. He should be at least on the 2nd line with the injuries.
J
Jalili
Guest
You know, a guy I think would be a real good fit for the Leafs would be Kevin Klein on Nashville.
Steady defensive D-man who flies under the radar and has been solidly underrated for a few years now. He shoots right and is locked up to a pretty fair contract as well.
With Nashville nearly out of the playoff race perhaps they look at making an adjustment. And because they have somewhat of a surplus for right-handed defensemen maybe that's something they'd consider.
Purely speculative on my part though.
Steady defensive D-man who flies under the radar and has been solidly underrated for a few years now. He shoots right and is locked up to a pretty fair contract as well.
With Nashville nearly out of the playoff race perhaps they look at making an adjustment. And because they have somewhat of a surplus for right-handed defensemen maybe that's something they'd consider.
Purely speculative on my part though.
Highlander
Active member
I met a guy who sell top luxury cars downtown T.O. He says he arranges to ship Matt's Rolls Royce back and forth from Sweden as to Matts travel plans. Matts is only going to lace up his shoes to press the gas pedal as he tours the Fiords.
Pretty good year to be by far the best UFA defenceman available...
L K
Active member
The Leafs have 43 million committed to the cap for next year. That roster would be:
Kessel (8.0) - Kadri (2.9) - JVR (4.25)
Clarkson (5.25) - Bozak (4.2) - Lupul (5.25)
***** - ***** - *****
Orr (0.9) - ***** - McLaren (0.7)
*****
Liles (3.875) - Gunnarsson (3.150)
Rielly (0.894) - *****
***** - *****
*****
Bernier (2.9)
*****
So they need to sign an entire 3rd line, a 4th liner, a 13th forward, 3 defensemen plus a 7th defenseman and a backup goaltender.
They could easily bring back the same team and have a few million under the cap (giving most guys 1-2 million dollar raises).
Kessel (8.0) - Kadri (2.9) - JVR (4.25)
Clarkson (5.25) - Bozak (4.2) - Lupul (5.25)
***** - ***** - *****
Orr (0.9) - ***** - McLaren (0.7)
*****
Liles (3.875) - Gunnarsson (3.150)
Rielly (0.894) - *****
***** - *****
*****
Bernier (2.9)
*****
So they need to sign an entire 3rd line, a 4th liner, a 13th forward, 3 defensemen plus a 7th defenseman and a backup goaltender.
They could easily bring back the same team and have a few million under the cap (giving most guys 1-2 million dollar raises).
If the goal is to essentially bring back the same team this is what I've come up with:
CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster
FORWARDS
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Peter Holland ($1.000m) / Dave Bolland ($4.200m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($3.000m)
Jerry D'Amigo or Carter Ashton ($0.700m) / Jay McClement ($2.000m) / Colton Orr ($0.925m)
Frazer McLaren ($0.700m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.500m)
Jake Gardiner ($2.000m) / Cody Franson ($3.500m)
Morgan Rielly ($0.894m) / John-Michael Liles ($3.875m)
Korbinian Holzer ($0.788m) /
GOALTENDERS
James Reimer ($4.000m)
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,981,667; BONUSES: $850,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $18,333
Fraser and Ranger don't exist in this scenario. I think I was pretty fair with my cap estimates, particularly with Bolland/Kulemin/McClement. Gardiner and Franson being RFAs are a complete guessing game but I think I went on the low-side with those two. I think I went low on Reimer too but we'll see. So with that said we're just barely under the cap and that's with a 22-man roster.
Granted, we can get a bit of relief by letting Bolland or Kulemin walk and replacing them either from within or via cheaper UFAs. We could also trade Reimer if management decides Bernier has what it takes to be our starter. But I wouldn't say this cap increase gives the Leafs some big opportunity to fix the club. At least not yet.
edit: Also, some of that cap space could get eaten up by overages this season from LTIR and Gardiner/Rielly's bonuses.
CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster
FORWARDS
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Peter Holland ($1.000m) / Dave Bolland ($4.200m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($3.000m)
Jerry D'Amigo or Carter Ashton ($0.700m) / Jay McClement ($2.000m) / Colton Orr ($0.925m)
Frazer McLaren ($0.700m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.500m)
Jake Gardiner ($2.000m) / Cody Franson ($3.500m)
Morgan Rielly ($0.894m) / John-Michael Liles ($3.875m)
Korbinian Holzer ($0.788m) /
GOALTENDERS
James Reimer ($4.000m)
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,981,667; BONUSES: $850,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $18,333
Fraser and Ranger don't exist in this scenario. I think I was pretty fair with my cap estimates, particularly with Bolland/Kulemin/McClement. Gardiner and Franson being RFAs are a complete guessing game but I think I went on the low-side with those two. I think I went low on Reimer too but we'll see. So with that said we're just barely under the cap and that's with a 22-man roster.
Granted, we can get a bit of relief by letting Bolland or Kulemin walk and replacing them either from within or via cheaper UFAs. We could also trade Reimer if management decides Bernier has what it takes to be our starter. But I wouldn't say this cap increase gives the Leafs some big opportunity to fix the club. At least not yet.
edit: Also, some of that cap space could get eaten up by overages this season from LTIR and Gardiner/Rielly's bonuses.
Rebel_1812
New member
I don't know why everyone here wants to keep lupul. Sure he plays well when heathly, but he is never healthy. Best to trade him now when you can get a return and free up some cap space. We have plenty of wingers.
L
losveratos
Guest
Assuming we want to mimic the two time winning champs the Hawks, we should probably keep him.Rebel_1812 said:
They have 3 great wingers (Hossa, Sharp, Kane) we have (Kessel, Lupul, JVR). They have 2 great dmen (Seabrook, Keith) we have (Phaneuf, ?). They have a great center in Toews and hopefully Kadri keeps developing into something 80-90% as good as that. Also our goalies are better in my opinion.
So let's say we trade Lupul to get that question mark beside Phaneuf... then who steps up for that winger position?
This is just assuming we want a close as possible carbon copy.
Britishbulldog
Active member
losveratos said:
Until the Leafs get a top power forward like Lucic and a physical anomaly on defense like Chara, I also realized the Leafs were more likely able to model a Hawks team than the Bruins and looked at the exact same comparisons except I think that Toews skillset is not in the Leafs system and Kadri more resembles Brandon Saad than a 1st line center. Kane - Kessel, Hossa - JVR, Sharp - Lupul, Saad - Kadri, Toews - ?? (sorry Bozak), Keith and Seabrook - Phaneuf and ??.
Britishbulldog
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
Players that are coming back I agree with most of your guesses:
Bolland - $4.2
Kulemin - $3.0
Holland - $1.0
McClement $1.5 ** I see him simply as a PK specialist. That's it.
Phaneuf $7.0 ** although you are probably right
Franson $4.25 ** 5 year contract
Reimer $2.9 ** signed to a matching contract to Bernier
Traded or not re-signed:
Gardiner - Solid trade chip
Liles - solid 2nd pairing dman
Raymond - victim of the cap numbers game because of his excellent play is going to demand too high of a pay raise
Of course on defense I would look for the 2nd work horse, only keep Phaneuf, Rielly and Franson and try to move to various teams Gunnarsson $3.15, Liles $3.875, Gardiner $2.8 (I am guessing), some forward assets and trade picks for a $7 MIL + dman and various draft picks. Fill in the 4th line and 3rd dman pairing with Marlies and UFAs. If the Leafs don't then it will be the same results next year that we are currently seeing.
As mr. grieves and Weekend at Bernier's alluded to in the Clarkson thread, Nonis wanted Clarkson and unlike previous Leaf GMs, he paid what it took to get him. Philadelphia and NYR have been hurt by that kind of mindset but in the past Detroit and more recently Chicago has benefited by it.